Animals

Oceanography Facts

Oceanography (also called oceanology or marine science) is the study of the ocean, its properties and its characteristics. This can include, and is not limited to, studying the marine life, the geography of the ocean floor, and the water itself. See the fact file below for more information about oceanography.

Oceanography is the science devoted to the study of the Earth’s water bodies.

Oceanographers are the scientists that study the ocean.

These scientists study the chemical properties of the ocean water. They also study the ocean temperatures, levels and currents.

Marine plants and organisms are also studied.

71% of the surface of the Earth is covered by the oceans which together, contain 97% of the Earth’s water. Less then 1% of the Earth’s water is freshwater. A part of this water evaporates under the glare of the Sun and falls back as rainwater.

The Mariana Trench, near Indonesia in the Pacific Ocean is the deepest place on the Earth. This trench is 36,201 feet deep (11,033 meters).

Oceanographers study hydrothermal vents (underwater volcanoes) and bacteria and creatures living in this environment.

Ninety percent of all volcanic activity occurs in the oceans. In 1993, scientists located the largest known concentration of active volcanoes on the sea floor in the South Pacific Ocean.

The Earth’s longest mountain range is the Mid-Ocean Ridge. It winds around the Earth from the Arctic Ocean to the Atlantic, runs around Africa, Asia and Australia, and crosses the Pacific to the west coast of North America. It is four times longer than the Rocky Mountains, the Andes, and Himalayas combined.

Almost 90% of the sea is unexplored.

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